Coccobello

Lauro Siliquini – co-owner of Ruby Red Flamingo, Tony Tomatoes and the ever-changing single-dish diner on O’Connell Street – has spent decades in hospitality. Coccobello draws on his central-Italian roots, plus those of his northern-Italian business partner Enzo Verdino. In short: pizza, pasta and some considered Italian classics.

Coccobello has a relaxed Mediterranean feel. The stucco walls have a light lace finish and imported Italian terrazzo is everywhere in the largest of three dining rooms, which looks out over a small outdoor terrace. The venue seats a total of 150 people.

The large electric pizza oven is partially powered by the solar panels on the roof. The biga (a pre-fermented baker’s yeast starter) dough is made with imported, stone-ground flour. Fresh egg pasta is made daily. The tortellini are delicate veal-and-prosciutto parcels served in a chicken broth.

You can recognise Ruby Red in the pasta and Tony Tomatoes in the pizza, but Coccobello is its own entity. The kitchen bakes bread and makes gelati on-site. About a third of the menu is vegetarian, and just about everything can be made gluten-free.